All About Violin Classes and Teachers

[minnie]

I am impressed by his learning speed.

[phankao]

r2010:

I have sec 1 boy who just started learning violin for 5 months and passed his grade 2. He wants to take exam next sept - should I make him take grade 4 or grade 3. Thanks for any advise

He's already Sec 1. Not young. I'm sure he can at least do Grade 5 for his next grade. He should have no problem handling if he is serious about it. Then work onwards to Grade 8 after that. Of course it depends on what his goal is in learning violin.

Some violin teachers would work with \"matured\" learners in progressing from beginner to Mid-grades in only a few months. \"Matured\" learners would progress faster more bc of self-motivation. There might be some training required in terms of dexterity though.

[r2010]

Thanks for replying at my query. I don’t have music background so have to rely on others…


He is very motivated learner and I think as he is already Sec1 and next year sec 2 so he is more serious on his learning. As I do not have any music background, so I told him that he must be serius if not it will be a waste of time and money.

Hi phankoa,
If he takes grade 5 - do he need to take the theory exams first. Can I register him to take theory exam in this February - March? The reason why I was thinking of grade 4 in next July-Sept because he has not taken theory grade 5 yet and I thought without theory grade 5, you cannot take practical grade 5. Really appreciate your thoughts. Thanks

Hi Dreamaurora,

If you read my post I said he has passed his grade 2 after learning for 5 months. Now I am deciding on which grade to take for Jul-Sept, which mean he has about 10 months to 1 year to practice. I am not sure what you are puzzled at.

[phankao]

r2010:

Thanks for replying at my query. I don't have music background so have to rely on others....


He is very motivated learner and I think as he is already Sec1 and next year sec 2 so he is more serious on his learning. As I do not have any music background, so I told him that he must be serius if not it will be a waste of time and money.

Hi phankoa,
If he takes grade 5 - do he need to take the theory exams first. Can I register him to take theory exam in this February - March? The reason why I was thinking of grade 4 in next July-Sept because he has not taken theory grade 5 yet and I thought without theory grade 5, you cannot take practical grade 5. Really appreciate your thoughts. Thanks

Hi Dreamaurora,

If you read my post I said he has passed his grade 2 after learning for 5 months. Now I am deciding on which grade to take for Jul-Sept, which mean he has about 10 months to 1 year to practice. I am not sure what you are puzzled at.

No need theory. Only need grade 5 theory from grade 6 onwards

[Dreamaurora]

r2010:

Thanks for replying at my query. I don't have music background so have to rely on others....


He is very motivated learner and I think as he is already Sec1 and next year sec 2 so he is more serious on his learning. As I do not have any music background, so I told him that he must be serius if not it will be a waste of time and money.

Hi phankoa,
If he takes grade 5 - do he need to take the theory exams first. Can I register him to take theory exam in this February - March? The reason why I was thinking of grade 4 in next July-Sept because he has not taken theory grade 5 yet and I thought without theory grade 5, you cannot take practical grade 5. Really appreciate your thoughts. Thanks

Hi Dreamaurora,

If you read my post I said he has passed his grade 2 after learning for 5 months. Now I am deciding on which grade to take for Jul-Sept, which mean he has about 10 months to 1 year to practice. I am not sure what you are puzzled at.

Let me just ask you a couple questions to clarify my doubts as I am really still puzzled:
1. Did your son take grade 2 ABRSM or the exam is an internal/mock one?
2. Did you register your son for grade 2 exam even before starting any violin lessons?

Older beginners like your son generally can pick up an instrument much faster, especially if they have some music exposure e.g. choir, band. For violin, there are quite a few cases of grade 5 within one year that I heard. For piano, rare, but still doable. Your son is sec 1 going to sec 2. Students this age are normally quite self-motivated and will want to do well. My teenagers and adults students actually request to take exams to challenge themselves. So I suggest you let the decision rests with him and his teacher. You can express your wish to him and his teacher, but ultimately he must be willing to push himself.

[phankao]

Dreamaurora:

1. Did your son take grade 2 ABRSM or the exam is an internal/mock one?
2. Did you register your son for grade 2 exam even before starting any violin lessons?.

I suspect that the son started lessons in Feb, and then teacher though why not register for g2 exam. A sec 2 should be able to handle. So by the time he took exam in July/Aug, it was 5mths or at most 5+mths, lor.

[Dreamaurora]

phankao:

Dreamaurora:

1. Did your son take grade 2 ABRSM or the exam is an internal/mock one?
2. Did you register your son for grade 2 exam even before starting any violin lessons?.

I suspect that the son started lessons in Feb, and then teacher though why not register for g2 exam. A sec 2 should be able to handle. So by the time he took exam in July/Aug, it was 5mths or at most 5+mths, lor.

Possible I guess, although personally I will not attempt to enter students for exams immediately after starting lessons as normally I have strict requirements of what has to be completed before registration closes. But I guess some teachers like take risks.

[phankao]

Dreamaurora:

phankao:

[quote=\"Dreamaurora\"]
1. Did your son take grade 2 ABRSM or the exam is an internal/mock one?
2. Did you register your son for grade 2 exam even before starting any violin lessons?.

I suspect that the son started lessons in Feb, and then teacher though why not register for g2 exam. A sec 2 should be able to handle. So by the time he took exam in July/Aug, it was 5mths or at most 5+mths, lor.

Possible I guess, although personally I will not attempt to enter students for exams immediately after starting lessons as normally I have strict requirements of what has to be completed before registration closes. But I guess some teachers like take risks.[/quote]My son's teacher entered him for g4 violin exam shortly after starting to teach him in Feb too last time (5yrs ago already - haha). I was quite shocked. But then again, my son was not a new to the violin, having learnt 1yr then. Only that he just started taking lessons with this teacher.

[Dreamaurora]

phankao:

My son's teacher entered him for g4 violin exam shortly after starting to teach him in Feb too last time (5yrs ago already - haha). I was quite shocked. But then again, my son was not a new to the violin, having learnt 1yr then. Only that he just started taking lessons with this teacher.

One of violinists I know say that if you are talented in violin, you can easily clear grade 5 from beginner within one year. I guess can see why he said that.

[phankao]

Dreamaurora:

phankao:

My son's teacher entered him for g4 violin exam shortly after starting to teach him in Feb too last time (5yrs ago already - haha). I was quite shocked. But then again, my son was not a new to the violin, having learnt 1yr then. Only that he just started taking lessons with this teacher.

One of violinists I know say that if you are talented in violin, you can easily clear grade 5 from beginner within one year. I guess can see why he said that.

It may actually not be as easy as it seems lah. Grade 1 & 2 are all played in 1st position. I'm not sure - but I think Grade 3 also 1st position, or maybe some easy position change only. Definitely by Grade 4 have to change Left Hand positions. Grade 5 need to add in vibrato. It may not be that easy to acquire a natural vibrato within a few months to handle the grade 5 pieces.

That being said, it depends on how the teacher structures the lessons in guiding the student to progress well. I've seen the difference between my son's 1st violin teacher who taught him for over a year and his 2nd teacher who continued teaching him for past 5 yrs until now.